Rescued By Nova

Chapter 17

That evening, I cooked us dinner and we shared stories from our childhood. We laughed until we cried. We enjoyed getting to know each other. Getting to know more about each other's families, we might have done things a little backwards but not everyone has to travel the same path. After dinner Joey built us another fire, this time we sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace to enjoy it. We sat in silence for a while, his arm around my shoulders, I was snuggled into his chest. This was what home felt like. This is what I wanted to have forever, right now, in this moment, I decided I would do whatever I had to do to make sure that we could have this.

Joey finally started talking. I stilled. Prepared for whatever it was he had to say. Prepared to make whatever changes necessary to make both of our dreams come true.

“Maggie, I have lot of things I need to say. Please hear me out and let me get to the end before you start asking questions. I may not be able to finish what I need to say if I don’t do it now. The first time I saw you I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I felt things for you I had never felt before but didn’t understand them. Instead of doing the right thing and trying to figure that our I followed you into bed for amazing magical s*x and then you were gone.”

“I’m so-” I tried to talk

“Please Maggie, let me talk. For 6 months after you left, I tried to find you but all we knew was Maggie and there was no way to track you down without more information than that. I thought I would never see you again and I could not understand why that hurt so much. I didn’t know you. I had no reason to feel this way, but I did. Then out of nowhere, you appeared in Nebraska. It was like magic, fate. From the moment I saw you walk off that trail I knew I never wanted to lose you again. I never wanted to think that I would never see you again. My heart couldn’t handle it. I didn’t plan on the s*x marathon at first, but you are irresistible. I didn’t want to leave. I finally had to force myself out of your trailer.”

He stopped talking for a minute but when I looked up at him, I could tell he wasn’t done so I turned toward him and took his hand in mine and waited until he was ready to go on.

“I said marry me and move to South Carolina. I was only slightly kidding. If you would have said yes, I would have been more than happy with that. But I know that wouldn’t have made you happy. And I am not sure either one of us were truly ready for that just yet. So, I text Josey to pick me up, walked out the door and left. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I knew that day in Nebraska that there was no other woman in the world for me. I wanted you.”

He paused again. There were tears in his eyes. I squeezed his hand offering reassurance. Just letting him know that I am here for him.

“I returned to South Carolina with Josey. We had a long talk on the flight home. The next few weeks are a little bit of a blur. I gave my notice to the Sheriff’s department. They asked me to stay until a replacement deputy was found. I agreed. That took a little longer than I had hoped. We had 4 dogs in the middle of training that were in the facility with us. I needed to find a new trainer to take over for me at the training center or another facility to send them to. Josey has enough on her plate without taking on my commitments. I have 2 dogs that I own and currently train, I wanted to find a local facility they could stay at, and I could train them at until I was able to work out all the details.”

He paused again. But I couldn’t have interrupted if I wanted to. I wanted to hear everything but there are already tears running down my face. This better mean what I think it means.

“I had a few things to finish on my house before I could put it on the market and get it sold. Everything took longer than I had hoped but in just over 7 weeks all my loose ends in South Carolina were almost tied up. Now all I had to do was find you. I reached out to the committee that oversees the sign up and registration fees for the trials, after many attempts and talking to several different people they finally gave me the name of the trainer that was listed on your paperwork.”

“I don’t know if you realize this, but you are the first handler that Greg has ever taken under his wing. He typically trains dogs for other people but doesn’t usually train people.”

That took me by surprise. Greg was great with people. I tucked that into the back of my mind for later.

“After lots of research I was finally able to find a phone number for Greg and reached out to him. The first time I called and tried to explain who I was I basically sounded like demented stalker and should have been locked in a padded cell. He told me to stay away from you and hung up on me. ”

He laughed at himself remembering this part of his story.

“I called back every day for almost 2 weeks. If he knew where I lived, I’m sure he would have had me arrested. Then, I finally got lucky, Ms. Diana answered the phone. I begged her to hear me out and not hang up the phone. She got Greg and put him on speaker and even though he bitched and complained the first half the phone call, he finally listened. I told them everything, well, except the magical s*x part. Ms. Diana finally said she would tell me your full name and where you lived but I had to agree to spend the day with her first. If she approved then, she would allow me to go to you. I told her I would do anything and everything I had to do. I had a promise to keep, and there was nothing in this world that would keep me from honoring that promise.”

“I originally planned to come to Colorado last week but got called out on a search. Even though I was technically no longer on the team I couldn’t say no. I called Diana when the search was over and found out you were in Salina and figured I could make that work in my favor, so I caught the next flight to Denver.”

“Maggie, I never imagined it would take me 3 months to find my way back to you but now that I have, I want you to know that I never plan on leaving. I will follow you anywhere. My life is wherever you are.”

He got off the couch and got down on one knee. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He opened the box and inside was the most beautiful engagement ring I have ever seen.

“Maggie, I was more serious than ever when I said I was going to marry you someday. I want you to have our babies someday. I never want to spend another day without you. Will you Marry Me?”

“YES!” I almost yelled. I was crying tears of joy.

He slid the ring on my finger, and it fit perfectly. He stood and lifted me into his arms and kissed me. This kiss was different. It was full of love and promises.

He carried me to the bed and spent the next several hours peppering me with sweet loving kisses and whispering promises of all the things to come in my ears. It was the best way to end one of the best days of my life.